Tuesday Programs: Film Festivals as Cultural Hubs

Our speaker will present highlights of the 2019 MSP International Film Festival and touch on the history, scope, power and growing importance of narrative cinema, both dramatic and documentary. She will address the key role that film festivals play today in developing an audience for independent and international film, and the equally important role festivals play in illuminating topics of global interest and as multicultural gathering places.

Since 2010, Susan Smoluchowski has played the dual role of executive and artistic director of the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul and its centerpiece, the annual Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. Susan was raised and educated in Mexico, Switzerland, England and Italy, has traveled extensively, and feels most privileged, as Executive Director of the Film Society, to be tasked with developing strategies and programs to bring the world to our doorstep through film.

The Film Society, established in 1963, is one of the longest-running independent film exhibitors in the US and the producer and presenter of the annual Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. The society brings audiences hundreds of films from 80+ countries each year, curating and presenting an array of award-winning, critically acclaimed international independent cinema not otherwise available in the region.

The Tuesday Program is a Club tradition to educate, inspire and entertain our Members and guests. Coffee and tea are served at 10:30 am in the Lounge, followed by a Guest Speaker in the Ballroom at 11:00 am and lunch in the Dining Room at 12:00 pm. The cost for lunch is $18.00 plus tax and service charge ($23.28, inclusive of tax and service). Reservations are not necessary.